


The Truth that Illuminates You

by awkwardnarturtle



Series: Chasing Shadows, Chasing Light [2]
Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: (wipes tear), Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Established Relationship, Flashbacks, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, They love each other so much, actually this one is sappy the whole way through i think, because nico knows stuff and will doesn't (at first!), because of course it does, it gets sappy at the end kids, nico is chaotic neutral, second part, superhero au, will is actual good superhero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-21 21:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11365869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardnarturtle/pseuds/awkwardnarturtle
Summary: "I think I know why you are so distant.""Do you now?" I was long past panic. I knew in my heart that I wanted him to know everything, to see everything as it was."It's because of who you are."I closed my eyes. "Is this philosophical or literal?""A bit of both, actually."





	The Truth that Illuminates You

**Author's Note:**

> this is the conclusion to the last thing i posted! the one a lot of people wanted me to write when i first posted the other on tumblr, and i wrote this one maybe a month or so after
> 
> this one is A WHOLE LOT more sappy than the other one because eh why not and also this one is a lot more poetic and stuff compared to the last one because i guess i was in a poetic mood when i wrote it. eh
> 
> im probably going to make a few tweaks to some wording/grammar/whatever just so that i can make it sound better from the original on tumblr, but again nothing crazy
> 
> also this one kinda jumps around a lot so please bear with it
> 
> enjoy!

I fell in love with him long before we were revealed to be fated.

Even back then, the sunlight clung to his skin, and he radiated warmth and comfort. His smile was why my eyes were drawn to him, though. It was heart-shaped, and his front teeth had a little gap between them. His entire face would light up, and his eyes would always look like they were squeezed shut.

I saw him, and I thought he was brighter than the sun could ever be.

He was kind to me - kind to everyone, really. I was the kid that shadows followed, that unsettled people. But his hand never shied away from me.

Maybe that's why I fell in love with him.

 

* * *

 

 

The shadows pooled around my eyes, like a sort of liquid mask, and I lifted my face to the sky. Trails of shadows dribbled down my cheeks, and I opened my eyes, staring at the changing colors of the dawn.

"It's not common to see you out so early in the day."

I turned to face him, drinking in his radiance. "Needed some air. Needed some light."

There was something soft in his eyes, and I knew very well what it was. He brushed his thumb against my cheeks, smudging one of the lines of the shadows. Once on his finger, the liquid shadow fizzled out of existence. "I've more than enough light to give."

"And that's what I'm afraid of."

 

* * *

 

 

I saw the black sun on his collar bone before he could see the one on my back.

To put that moment simply; I panicked.

I had spent so long yearning for his touch, but it had always been a fantasy. When our tattoos appeared, my childish fantasies were suddenly terrifyingly real.

Back then, I thought there would be no way he could be able to love me. I thought the universe had made a mistake.

He found me among the crowd of young people looking for their fated ones. He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him.

I had expected disappointment. He was smiling. Heart-shaped, gap-toothed, just the slightest bit crooked - smiling.

In that moment, I promised myself I'd change so that he wouldn't have to deal with my gloomy disposition. I didn't realize then that light chases after shadows, craves the contrast.

 

* * *

 

 

I woke to the feeling of Will running his fingers through my hair. I kept my eyes closed, savoring the feeling while I could.

"We both know you're awake," he whispered, tugging on a lock of my hair.

I groaned, opening my eyes and staring at the light of his face. It burned.

"Your hair," he said, though he didn't finish the thought. I closed my eyes again.

His hand left my hair and trailed down my face. His fingers brushed against my eyelids. "Your eyes." He touched a finger to my mouth. "Your lips." He trailed a finger down my throat. "Your voice."

I opened my eyes, want pulling at my bones. His expression was one of deep thought. "Kiss me," I said, and his expression changed to something of anguish. He kissed me.

 

 

* * *

 

 

I had known of the shadows' fondness of me since as long as I could remember. It wasn't hard for me to start to learn how to manipulate them to work for me. And when I learned how to bend and mold the shadows to effect objects, I was suddenly too powerful for my own good.

I recognized it; I kept it to myself.

By the time the chosen hero of the sun revealed himself, Will and I were fated, and I had resigned myself to a neutral role in terms of heroism. If I joined either side, I would upset a delicate balance.

But a new hero needed my help, and he just so happened to radiate warmth and light.

I recognized him immediately, but I kept my mouth shut. He fell in love with me; I became jealous of myself.

So the story goes.

 

* * *

 

 

"I keep on seeing you in places I'm sure you're not."

I played with the shadows of my sword, shrinking and enlarging it for a dull sense of entertainment. "Are you sure I'm not there?"

"How could you be?"

The sword fell into my hand, regular sized, and I rubbed the hilt thoughtfully. "I've got a life outside of this. I could be closer than you think."

"How close?" I shrugged. He sighed.

 

* * *

 

 

He had given me the silver headband three weeks after we were fated.

"It always seemed to be in your way," he had said, offering me a shy smile. It was pulling to one side more than the other, and there was a little crease at the corner of his mouth that I found extremely endearing. "I just want to see your eyes."

I had taken the headband without hesitation, but the moment of pause had come when I was about to put it on. He had seen the Knight's eyes already, and, given that the Knight and I were the same person, he might be able to see the resemblance. Or at least, that's what I had thought.

"Do you not like it?" he had asked, and my cheeks had burned. I shook my head wildly, and, for the first time, I pushed my hair out of my eyes, using the silver headband.

He had immediately gone into some trance, and he lifted a hand up to my face.

That was the first time he kissed me.

 

* * *

 

 

The shadows clung to my feet as I walked into our shared room, my eyes adjusting to the dim light.

Even in the dark, his skin radiated a dull glow, which might've seemed like a reflection of the candle light to an outsider. But I knew of the sun inside of him. I knew of the light he carried deep in his bones.

I sat on the edge of the bed, watching his chest rise and fall, counting his breaths. His face was soft and relaxed, quite different from the tense expression he wore around both sides of myself as of late. The lines of his jaw and his cheeks seemed as if someone had taken a finger to a canvas and painted him to life, making sure to blend every color just right so as to blur his image in the best kind of way.

The shadows played on his face, dancing in the light of the candles.

People normally associated the stars with the night, but as I stared at the freckles on his face, I could only see a brilliant daylight. The stars in the galaxy were in fact just other suns, tiny and twinkling in their distance from this earth.

"Everywhere I look, I see your light," I whispered, tracing a finger on the planes of his face. "I see your brilliance, your beauty. I see my love for you so plainly written on my face every time I see my reflection."

He stirred, but didn't wake, shifting in his sleep. His mouth opened just the slightest; just enough for his teeth to show.

I felt my lips spread into a soft smile, softer than anything in the world. I was melting as if I was made of wax, and he had lit a fire inside me. I was burning down to the wick, drips of my skin puddling on his in a desperate attempt to claim him as something of mine.

My fingers played through his hair for a moment longer, catching the golden silk and tugging softly, before I placed a soft kiss on his forehead.

His eyelids fluttered open, and he stared at me with the clarity of someone who had been awake the entire time. "Do you love me?" he asked, no trace of sleep in his low voice.

My hair fell in front of my eyes, and I let it hang, staring at him through my dark eyelashes and thick hair. "I love you," I said softly. "With every muscle and bone and thought, every fiber of my being."

 

* * *

 

 

"I think I know why you are so distant." He stared at me, his blue eyes sure and true behind that God-awful mask.

"Do you now?" I was long past panic. I knew in my heart that I wanted him to know everything, to see everything as it was.

"It's because of who you are."

I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the setting sun, feeling the shadows and the light battle on my face. "Is this philosophical or literal?"

"A bit of both, actually." I smiled. He was silent for a moment. "I've never seen you smile like that," he said, his voice soft.

"Ah - the crooked teeth and lopsided grin? I don't exactly like showing off ugly things," I said, though I was still smiling like and idiot. The excitement of never having to hide from him again was getting to me.

"It isn't ugly," he said, his voice even softer than before, blurry around the edges. I imagined someone had painted his voice, too - made it so that everything about him was blurred by the dazzling light of his being.

I opened my eyes, tilting my head to look at him. "So what is it?" The reddish glow from the dying day made his skin turn a copper color, his eyes burning blue. I lifted a hand, pulling off his mask and staring at his face, naked and beautiful in all the light. "Who am I, William?"

His eyes turned sad. "You knew this whole time."

"Of course I did. I would've been a fool - like you - if I couldn't recognize your light the moment you tried to conceal it."

He scoffed out a laugh, running a hand through his hair and squinting at the sun. His eyebrows furrowed, and he chewed on his bottom lip. He closed his eyes, letting the light absorb into his skin and relax every part of him. "Do you love me?"

"I-" I stopped myself before I could say to him what I said the night before. A small smile pulled at the corners of my mouth. "I feel as though this is a loaded question."

He didn't seem to notice my answer, still staring at the setting sun. "I met you, and I loved you, though I don't think you ever realized it." He paused, and I felt my heartbeat in my chest, thumping out an unsteady rhythm. "Even now, I don't think you realize my love for you."

"You always assume I'm less observant than I actually am," I teased, trying to hide my shaking hands and shaking soul. "I know you love me."

"But did you know," he asked, finally looking over at me, "that I love all of you? Every bit?" He touched a finger to my mask of shadows, and it dissipated as easily as smoke, my face burning with his light.

"Every bit?" I asked, finally letting my voice shake, my eyes water. It had taken so long.

"I love you, Nico," he said, his voice and his face and his eyes soft and painted as he tucked my hair behind my ears. "All of you, with every muscle and bone and thought, with every fiber of my being."

My throat closed, and I squeezed my eyes shut, leaning forward and pressing my forehead to his collar bone. "it took you so long, you absolute  _idiot,"_ I whispered, not even bothering to try and swallow down my emotions.

"I know," he whispered back, pressing a kiss to the top of my head and placing a hand on my shoulder blade. "I know, but I see you and I feel you and now I understand that I love every aspect of you that could ever be."

My heart tightened in my chest. I looked up at him. "How do you know?"

His cheeks turned bright red, and I could see him swallow his embarrassment. "I dreamt of holding you long before we were fated, and I dreamt of you giving yourself entirely to me when we were. I loved your strength when I saw you fight, and I loved your tenderness when you held me."

The last of the sun's rays faded, and the night took over, illuminating the freckles on his face and the stars in his eyes. The light of the moon played on his inky black sun tattoo.

I was a candle, and I had burned down to the wick.

"You're all mine," I breathed, my fingers brushing on his cheeks, my voice soft as if someone had painted it to match his blurred beauty. "I finally have you all to myself," I whispered, as if my lines had been blurred so that I finally matched him.

"I've been yours," he said, shadows tangling in his hair and falling into his eyelashes, "since the day I met you. Since the day I was born into this world."

I could see it in his eyes, in the smooth lone of his jaw, that he was telling the truth.

I tilted my head head back, breathing in the cool night air and watching the stars twinkle. Tiny suns, delicate and lovely in their distance. I looked over to the boy in front of me, brilliant and magnificent in his closeness to me.

The light and the shadows dance in a beautiful rhythm, so dark and bright at the same time. I can't be a hero, like he wants me to be; I have to love and live in the shadows. But that's okay.

He knows who I am, and he knows every bit of me. He's finally figured it out.

Finally.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, and feedback is much appreciated, as always!!
> 
> talk about sappy am i right kids?? call me grandsappy because i wrote like i was a grandpa and i added THE MOST sap. actually i don't know why you would call me that it was dumb and honestly not even that funny. oops im laughing anyway
> 
> anyway we got more explanation on their powers (mostly nico's) and on how they became fated!! fun stuff!! also a lot of nico bein soft for his boyfriend!!! even better!!! despite this being written because of a request i put all the stuff that i love in here because no one can stop me so there
> 
> anyway yeah i hope you liked it!!


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